they had to throw kelly ayotte out there with no foreign policy experience because even they understand going after this woman, going after this -- another african-american official in the obama white house, i know it's unpopular to say, but they seem to have a pattern that isn't helpful politically so i don't see what the margin is. >> senator ayotte has political m a bigg ambition. >> and she's a woman. >> our power panel, my thanks to all three of you. >>> we are waiting for remarks from president obama who is expected to speak from the white house within the half hour. the president surrounded by middle-class americans as he intends to build up his support to avert the impending fiscal cliff. >> the mandate that the president has, and i think he said this after the election, is to protect the middle class and help people enter and stay in the middle class. >> mitch mcconnell once again blasted the president for what he called campaigning. >> the election's over. he won. congratulations. we've got a hard deadline here, however. and it's still -- he's still out on the campaign trail k